After a playoff appearance this past season, things are looking good for the future of the Milwaukee Bucks and not just with the potential of a new arena. But how can the Bucks improve on a season that saw a 26 win increase from the year before. No question they are a young team with youngsters like Michael Carter-Williams, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jabari Parker, John Henson, and others. The biggest priority for the Bucks this off-season is resigning Khris Middleton, who has bern one of their best shooters the last two seasons. According to reports, they are close to getting a deal done with him. They definitely need some more depth with their perimeter shooters, which is something the Bucks lacked in last season and during the playoff series with the Bulls. The Bucks with perimeter play need to follow an example of teams like the Bulls or even the NBA champion Golden State Warriors. Look at for instance the playoff series with the Bulls, the Bulls had how many three point threats in that series? They had at least 5 or 6 (Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, Mike Dunleavy, Aaron Brooks, Tony Snell, and Mirotic, who was a stretch four). On the Bucks current roster, their biggest three point threats are O.J. Mayo and Middleton. Free agency would be a big help with improving this facet of their game, and in my opinion right now it doesn't have to be a starter, I'd rather have it be a guy off the bench. I'd love to see a guy like Marco Belinelli in Milwaukee. He's one of the best three point shooters in the league and you always see him in the three point contest in the all-star game. He's available, but I don't know if the Bucks can snag him from a team like the Spurs. Other guys available viable free agency options are Leandro Barbosa, Tayshaun Prince, Mike Dunleavy, and Richard Jefferson. Jefferson would be an intriguing guy to bring back to Milwaukee with his connections to Jason Kidd. There are options out there like Dwayne Wade and Jimmy Butler, but I don't think the Bucks are gonna want to shell out that kind of money right now for a star. It would help, but they don't need that as of now. I mean that sounds like something they could do because of the new owners and such. Let's leave that for the future. The other big question is what are both Jabari Parker and Damien Inglis gonna add to the roster. If one of them can step up (hopefully Jabari) and add to that perimeter game that would be HUGE!!! The draft obviously can also help fill that void. You'd love to see Sam Dekker drop to the Bucks at 17. We'll see but some mock drafts have gonna before the Bucks pick. Some guys that could fall to the Bucks at 17 in terms of perimeter play could be Tyus Jones, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Jerian Grant, and R.J. Hunter. The other big needs for the Bucks in the Off-Season are power forward and center. Center is the big one because the Bucks haven't really had that big rim protector since Larry Sanders big year before his waste of a four year contract and clearly Zaza Pachulia isn't a full-time starter at the five. Zaza is reliable at times. I mean he was in the playoffs starting at the five, but he's more of a guy that can come off the bench. This is more likely to be done in free agency due to a lack of bigs available when the Bucks pick at 17. The Bucks have already made it clear that they are going to improve this position. Right now they are showing interest in two guys have connections to head coach Jason Kidd in Brook Lopez and Tyson Chandler. Both are big rim protectors, put up good numbers and are reliable. The other report is they might target DeMarcus Cousins as well, but that might be a bit of a stretch in my opinion. As for the power forward position, this is something I could see being done in the first round of the draft for the Bucks especially with who could be available at 17. At the 17, you would love to see Frank Kaminsky fall to the Bucks at 17 but the likelihood of that is very slim. There are some other options that could be available when the Bucks pick such as Arkansas' Bobby Portis, Kentucky's Trey Lyles and the Milwaukee kid and Darnell Harris's high school teammate (there's your small Whitewater connection to the NBA draft) in Kevon Looney from UCLA. All have some good rebound numbers during their college careers.
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